Description
Shipwreck Artifacts for Sale | Munitions
- British Shipwreck
- Musket Ball
- Salvaged from the wreck of the HMS Invincible 1744-1758
- This specimen is a musket ball that was recovered during salvage operations. The specimen is housed within a nicely displayed within a Mat with a Label. The whole display comes in a 4.25″ x 5.25″ Riker Mount as shown. This musket ball was recovered from the shipwreck of this 74 gun ship of the line. Originally captured from the French, this ship served the British as the 1st HMS Invincible during the glory years of the British Navy. .
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WHICH HMS INVINCIBLE?
Seven ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Invincible. HMS Invincible (1747) was originally the French 74-gun ship of the line L’Invincible, It was captured off Cape Finisterre in 1747. She was the first purpose-built 74-gun ship of the line to serve in the Royal Navy. The ship sank in February 1758 when she hit a sandbank in the East Solent.
HMS Invincible (1747)
THE HISTORY OF HMS INVINCIBLE (1747)
During the early part of the 18th century British ship designers had made few significant advances in design, whereas French shipbuilding benefited from a remarkably creative period. At the time of the capture of Invincible, there was not one 74-gun ship in the Royal Navy. By 1805 at the Battle of Trafalgar, three quarters of British ships of the line were of this singular design and the 74-gun ship had become the backbone of all major navies of the world.
Invincible was built by the French in 1744 and captured by the British on the 3rd May 1747, her remains are highly significant both historically and archaeologically for the following reasons:
Of international importance, HMS Invincible‘s build was ahead of her time. Her special design, unique lines and 74 gun capacity were copied and her Class became the backbone of the Royal Navy’s fleet right up to the end of the sailing Navy and the beginning of the age of steam, marked in the United Kingdom by the launch of HMS Warrior in 1860.
